I'm preparing to do Series Two, and wanted it to look better than just a guy in front of a webcam, as it was in the first series, and more like a short TV feature, produced by professionals.

This time around, I will be using my Canon DSLR for the video side of things, and hopefully the lighting issue will be solved too.

I have a stack of new records which I'm busting to show everyone, I can't wait to jump in and get it all done... but I just have to wait a little longer for a few more components to arrive which will make it all possible.

I thought I'd write a little about myself, so that you can know me better, or at least stalk me more efficiently.And since this webpage is about music, I think I may as well stick to that.I was pushed out of Mum's womb in 1965, when The Beatles still had songs on the pop charts.Mum knew that when I was very young, I liked music, in fact she used to re-tell a story about when she was breast feeding me, and a song came on, on the television, and I turned to look and almost tore her tit off, yes that actuallydid happen. I obviously thought that boobs were stretchier back then, they weren't... sorry Mum.I had been aware of music very early on, I knew who people were, I knew The Carpenters, John Denver, Sonny and Cher. I knew The Jacksons, Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Elvis.I knew The Banana Splits, The Cattanooga Cats and The Groovy Goolies.While other boys wanted a football or a toy car, I wanted a cassette player or turntable, One year I did get a cassette Player, a Sanyo, and took it everywhere, even to school.It was highly unusual to see a kid with something like that in the 70s, it just didn't tend to happen... so perhaps I was a trendsetter? The Sanyo was certainly no Ghetto Blaster, but it was good enough for me.It had a sticker of a monster on it too, one of the cereal makers back then had a set of monster stickers which i'd been collecting, and I'd stuck one onto the side of my Cassette player... it had no radio in it... but I got a few later on which did.And then I started collecting my records, properly, around 1983, adult ones, not the kids ones I'd had earlier.So as it normally is with people, what I heard and loved in my teenage years, are songs that I still love today.I adore the 80s, what a wonderful period of time, musically... though I did have family back then too, who I miss.So when I add to my collection, it's always going to be something which resonates with me, a band or a song I know very well, and I hope people aren't going to mind that, I suppose there are other generation Xers out there who like exactly the same music that I do.I'd really like to hear from some of you 80's fans, what did you like? New Wave?, Break Dancing? (Did you break anything?), Hair Bands?, Pop?Have you got any records you treasure?Wolfie.

You've heard about a new record coming out, it's a very special limited edition and you want it bad!Only a few weeks ago Bowie's "Reality" was released on coloured vinyl, for the very first time, it's been out onblack vinyl for weeks.Now musically, I don't think the album is all that exciting, it's not the rock anthems or dance tracks we're used to,to me it sounds more like a band playing the lunch crowd at a restaurant, but the album is collectable because it'sthe very first time it has been released on vinyl, because it came out during the 90s when everyone had decided that CDs were the better format.So yeah *gasp* "First edition, oh my stars!" Music On Vinyl, The company who produces a lot of brand new records, played their cards well, they would release the album in a choice of Green, Orange or regular Black, knowing full well that the maddest, keenest collectors would want all three versions.So, I had an e-mail from the record store I frequent in the UK, telling me that he only had a few of the albums going at the normal price, and they would be added to his website at 2am my time... that's fine, I'm usually still up then anyway.The albums sold in seconds, so fast that the website got confused and kept accepting orders, money had to be refunded.Now perhaps this makes people think that fans are buying the records, while that's partially true, it's pretty plain to see that most people buy records like this to attempt to make a profit on eBay.Only a minute or so after the record shop sold out, I went to ebay and saw the same record going for double or triple its regular price.This is fairly standard.Now it's ok for me to say cool your heels, because there's a fair chance that the record will simply circulate among the ebayers, as Reality certainly did, it could also be bought by dedicated fans too, leaving you without.I personally feel it's best to buy from the shop, I don't like my stuff passing through the hands of a third party who may be inexperienced with vinyl records, but it is the risk you take if you want it badly enough.I'm still seeing the albums at about double their price on eBay right now.However, if you want a better deal, then I'd strongly suggest checking out the marketplace at Discogs, where the mood seems to be more attuned to the record lover, and lacks the $$$Ka-Ching!$$$ of eBay.It's still a risk though, a 3rd party has had their hands on your records, do you want to trust them?Wolfie Rankin

The term "Mint" is a pretty easy thing to define, something that is so new that it looks like it was freshly made.But I find it also depends upon how fussy the person is who is attempting to classify a thing, before attempting a sale.I am an extremely fussy person, when it comes to my records, I am about as fussy as Hercule Poirot.Now I've been mostly satisfied with the second-hand records which have been turning up in the post, and certainly you have to make allowances, after all, some of these records are over 30 years old, there's a fair chance that their covers have been bumped a little now and then.But about a week ago, I saw a record on Discogs, which I was interested in getting: "True Colours", which was a bit special because this laser etched record, something I hadn't seen before, was also Autographed by the band.Now the cover wasn't too bad, but it did smell kind of musty, like an old book. I wondered if it, and the other record which arrived the same day "Send Me An Angel" by Real Life, had spent time in a basement somewhere.But the record itself had been scratched pretty badly, there was a deep scratch on the B-side, which would make one track unplayable.So what will I do?Probably not much, you take a risk when ordering online, it's not as easy as being at a shop and having the item in your hand, I may have still bought the record if it had been offered for less, because of the cover alone.But I think this one is a case of "Try again".Wolfie Rankin

Hi everyone, I think I have to start begging, unfortunately.I'm the ind of guy who will happily work for free, and have been doing so over the course of my life, having several volunteer jobs, and doing a lot of work online for free too.So far I've spent over $7000 on building things up so that I can tell people that I'm here and I want to work, especially in media (Radio/Audio Mostly).I have Audio of my work ready to listen to, and examples of my videos, which I've filmed and edited myself.A friend of mine runs a radio station from home, and is using a service where He added a button to his page, and readers sign up and contribute X amount of cash a month.The thing I don't like about that is it's going to start bugging readers for money.I would prefer if my page had a "tip jar" on it, where readers could donate anything they pleased, even $5 now and then would be nice.I would really like to keep my record review videos going, as I do understand Vinyl very well, and the videos are granting me some exposure... demonstrating how I speak, my editing techniques, my ability to create titles and so forth, though I am more comfortable in front of a mic alone, than in front of a camera... I have a face for radio as they used to say.Even collecting these records is quite an expensive thing to do, I would happily accept donations of interesting records too.Your help is needed, my home is falling apart and desperately needs serious updating. I have been doing all I can to be noticed, but nothing has been coming my way at all.Please let me know if you can assist in any way, and maybe how I could assist you.Thanks.Wolfie Rankin.

I hope you've been enjoying the weekly Rockit Quiz, and yes, I know, I've been a bit slack with getting the third one up, as I've been trying to get the new video ready.However, I'll start tinkering with the quiz tonight and see if I can have it up by tomorrow night. :)Wolfie Rankin.

A lot of new records have been dropping into my house recently, signalling a new video is on it's way.However, while the other videos have been "functional" I think I could do a great deal better. At the moment I'm creating a fun title sequence which I hope to complete before the end of the week.I've been using Sony Vegas, which is loads better than windows movie maker, but can be a real pain too. I'm not a fan of the clumsy pan and crop feature, or the way windows pop in and out of the program, I'm hoping there's a setting to stop that, but I haven't located it yet.Also, there's a lot of guess work with effects as the preview video doesn't sync up with what I'm doing in the effects panel.For the main section of the videos, I plan to shoot with my DSLR rather than my webcam, but this means dropping my microphone (it's USB and won't connect to the DSLR).I might need to buy a lapel mic later, but I'll see how I go with the camera mic.I hope you'll all like what you see.Wolfie Rankin.

From the Modern Vinyl Website:"Modern Vinyl is proud to team up with Spartan Records for our newest contest, in which we’ll be giving away a copy of the new full length album from States, titled Paradigm. In particular we have a copy on “Orange In Milky Clear” vinyl, which is limited to 200 copies."Enter